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Monday, February 11, 2013

Recipe for Homemade Southwestern Chicken Pot Pie-Secret Recipe Club


This recipe is courtesy of Lynne at Café Lynnylumy SecretRecipe Club assignment for February.  Lynne is a photographer and lives in Savannah, Georgia.  She attended school at the University of Georgia.  I think I was meant to have Lynne’s blog as I also attended the University of Georgia and lived just south of Savannah on St. Simons Island growing up-my Mom, brother, and niece all live there still.  Small world, huh?

Anyway, I was happy to find many savory recipes on Lynne’s blog to choose from for this month.  I finally settled on this homemade Southwestern chicken pot pie which turned out to be delightful with the cumin and chilie flavors as well as the fun jalapeno cornbread topping.  I followed Lynne’s recipe for the most part.  My ramekins are really too small so I made one large pot pie instead of individual ones and I added some extra cumin in the sauce and the cornbread topping as we love the flavor.  I couldn't find the self rising cornbread mix Lynne used, so I used cornmeal and added in a pinch of salt and some baking powder.   It worked out fine, better than fine, we really loved the cornbread topping.

Great recipe Lynne! 



Yield: 4-6 servings
Time: about 90 minutes

Ingredients:

Homemade Broth

  • 2 large skin on, bone-in chicken breast halves
  • 1 medium white onion, quartered (peeled)
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed (peeled)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 large carrot, peeled, rough chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, rough chopped
  • 1 TBSP black peppercorns
  • Generous pinch of kosher salt
  • Cold water 


Filling
  • 2 TBSP unsalted butter
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 4 TBSP AP flour
  • 1 onion, rough chopped
  • 3 cups of your homemade chicken broth (or more if you want more liquid)
  • Small can green chilies (mild), drained
  • 1/2 C frozen white corn, defrosted
  • 1/2 C canned black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 C chopped cooked carrot
  • 2 C shredded chicken breast
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Cornbread topping
  • 3/4 C yellow cornmeal
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • Slightly less (a pinch less) than 1 TBSP baking powder
  • 1/2 C milk (more if needed when mixing)
  • 1/2 C shredded jalapeno jack cheese
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 egg
  • 1 TBSP canola oil


Directions:
  • Place all the broth ingredients in a Dutch oven and cover with cold water (you want to end up with 3-4 cups of broth).  
  • Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
  • Simmer for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked (you can skim off any foam if you like).
  • Remove chicken and set aside to cool.
  • Drain and reserve broth.  Discard vegetables.
  • Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Wipe out Dutch oven and then heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.
  • Add onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
  • When chicken is cool enough, remove skin and bone and shred meat.
  • Stir flour in to onions and keep stirring until well incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes.
  • Add in broth and chilies and cook, simmering, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Sauce should thicken up.
  • Add corn, carrots, black beans, and chicken.
  • Cook over medium until all ingredients are heated through.
  • Add salt and pepper if needed.
  • While filling is heating, mix cornbread topping ingredients together.
  • When filling is ready, pour into a casserole dish (or ramekins) and top with cornbread topping, leaving a little room around the edge.
  • Cook for 25 minutes or until cornbread is firm and beginning to brown.

This ain't your neighborhood grocery store chicken pot pie!  Mr. ELEB "mmm"ed and said "good" throughout the whole meal.  I, too, thought this was a tasty and satisfying dish.   Check out some of Lynne's other recipes and her skillful photography as well as the other SRC recipes below.